cats for adoption (you already have my heart)
by AlwaysPadfoot
Summary: Frank comes back with some strays - not for the first time either. Uni!AU.


**AN:** Prompts will be displayed at the bottom to avoid them potentially giving away things.

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 **cats for adoption (you already have my heart)**

 **AlwaysPadfoot**

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Lily Evans sat cross-legged on her university room's bed trying desperately to do some reading that was due for tomorrow. It was only one chapter, but Lily found herself reading the same line over and over again. Leaning back against her pillows, Lily exhaled frustratedly, running her hands through her hair.

"You picked politics as a degree," Lily whispered to herself.

Distracted by the rain hammering against her room's window, she lay back closing her eyes as her Spotify played soft tunes. Forgetting about her reading, Lily found herself drifting. She was still completely exhausted from the late night pub session Marlene had begged her to come to.

A loud clap of thunder, however, jolted Lily awake. Her heavy Politics textbook slid off the bed and hit the floor.

She groaned, just about to turn over and bury her head under the pillow when the flat buzzer sounded. Hopeful that someone else would get it, Lily didn't move, but unfortunately, the buzzer kept ringing.

"Alright, alright."

Dragging herself up, Lily left her room through the open door and went to answer to the intercom.

"Hello?"

"Lils, it's me, I forgot my keys," the distorted voice said.

"Me?" Lily hummed leaning against the wall, wrapping a piece of red hair around her finger. "I can't quite put my finger on who you are. Is it Fred?"

"Lily," Frank whined. "Let me in."

She laughed and buzzed him into the building. Frank Longbottom and Lily had gelled from day one. Breaking the official flatmate rule of 'No sleeping with anyone you live with.' hadn't been intentional, more like destiny. They both just clicked.

Waiting for Frank in the corridor, Lily listened to the weather rage outside, grateful that she didn't have to leave the flat again today.

Just as bright white lightning lit up the corridor, Frank pushed the flat door open with his back. Dripping wet, his t-shirt plastered to his skin, Lily rolled her eyes, about to tear him a new one for not wearing a jacket when she realised it was balled up in his arms. She frowned.

"Frank?"

"Hey, I need your help."

He held out his bundled of jacket and Lily leant forward to peer inside. Curled up in there were three very small kittens.

"Jesus Christ, Frank."

"I need you to get fresh warm sheets or blankets, we need to warm them up," Frank said. "I saw Peter get a delivery yesterday; see you can get the box it came in."

Lily nodded, doing exactly as instructed. Frank knew what he was doing. As a second-year veterinary student, and growing up living around cats and dogs, Frank knew better than anyone.

It wasn't the first stray animal he'd brought home either.

She grabbed some blankets she'd been intending on throwing out and rushed down the hallway to Peter's room. Knocking three times in rapid succession, he eventually poked his head around the door.

"Hey, Lily, what's up?"

"I don't suppose I can have the box you're delivery came in yesterday?"

"Yeah sure," Peter said, looking a little confused. "Here let me just get it."

Box in hand and blankets tucked under her arm, Lily rushed down the corridor to Frank's room where he was sat beside the radiator. Instructing her to cut the one side out of the box, Frank guided her through making a sort of nest for the kittens.

And then, one by one, he transferred the kittens to the _nest_.

This being not the first time Frank had brought home strays, Lily hovered and watched as he pulled a box from under the bed that had small bottles and powdered formula for cats inside. He was completely focused. With ten minutes, Lily and him were sat together on the floor feeding kittens with tiny bottles of formula.

"You can't just adopt every stray animal you see." Lily smiled up at him. "Old Filch-y will kill us if he realises we have animals in the flat."

Frank pulled a faced at the mention of the porter. They'd never seen eye to eye since day one.

"My Mum will take them in," Frank said. "We just have to look after them for now."

"You're adorable." Frank's face flushed a rare shade of pink and Lily laughed. "Only you, Frank Longbottom, could bring three kittens in a thunderstorm and be more focused on that than the fact you're leaving a wet patch on the floor."

Lily put her head on his shoulder, looking down at the grey and white kitten in the blanket across her arms. She smiled at the sight in her peripheral vision of Frank cooing silently down the two kittens he was feeding.

The thunder was a dull rumble in her ears now; her politics reading a distant memory.

She could stay here forever.

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 **Comp/Challenge & Prompts: **

**Insane House Challenge** : 208. AU - Flatmates

 **365 House Challenge** : 145. Genre - Fluff

 **Gotta Catch 'em All:** Oddish [Word: Rare/Dialogue: "You can't just adopt every stray animal you see."/Weather: thunder]

 **WC - Character Appreciation** \- 8. (word) first

 **Word Count** **:** 802 — not inc. notes, titles, or ANs.


End file.
